MagnumGourmet's Wine Notes

This page details all of the wines I drink in a given month. First time around will be current and historical. Next year it will only be current wines. Other than that I will keep my thoughts to "Wow" wines, tasting trips and random other snipits that I think are interesting.
Am now also participating in the Dark Days Challenge from Dec 1st - Apr 15th.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Not your grandma’s turkey soup!We had some leftover turkey from Thanksgiving that we froze We had ordered a Mad Hatcher Turkey from Rain Shadow Meats. This was the inspiration for this meal. However, since we made this meal on the darkest day of the year, it required “harvesting” carrots from our yard with the help of a head lamp. ½ onion, chopped (Walla Walla, WA)½ lb carrots (our yard)4 oz Chanterelle Mushrooms (western WA)2 quarts chicken stock (homemade)3 tablespoons rosemary (our yard)½ teaspoon salt (Grenada – purchased while on vacation)½ teaspoon ground pepper (not local)1 bay leaf (Grenada – purchased while on vacation)½ lb chopped cooked turkeySoften the onion, carrots and mushrooms in a Dutch oven, about 4 minutes. Add the chicken stock, rosemary, salt, pepper, bay leaf, bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the chopped turkey and heat through. Makes 4-6 servings.Served with a Cranberry Vodka martini. The cranberry simple syrup was made from local cranberries. And the Vodka is from Washington apples made in Woodinville – Soft Tail Spirits.

One of our go-to meals. Typically I judge all Italian restaurants by their Carbonara.You can use bacon, but the guanciale just gives it a greater depth of flavor. Guanciale is very easy to make, just take a pork jowl and salt (and spice) cure it in the fridge for a week and then hang it in a cool (under 60 degrees) location for a month to dry out.Only make enough of this receipe for the meal as it does not reheat. Should be served immediately.Fettuccini Carbonara1 pound fettuccini (home made from Red Mill white and semolina flour, Sky Valley Farm eggs)2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (not local)4 ounces guanciale or slab bacon, cubed or sliced into small strips (cured from Carlton Farms pork jowl)4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (not local)2 large eggs (Sky Valley Farm)1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving (not local, but purchased from Calf and Kid, a local cheese shop in Seattle)Freshly ground black pepper (not local)1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped (we omitted since ours died in our front yard)DirectionsPrepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the fettuccini spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian "al-dente”.") Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish.Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the guanciale and saute for about 3 minutes, until it is and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and saute for less than 1 minute to soften.Add the hot, drained fettuccini to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the guanciale fat. Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.) Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mound the fettucini carbonara into warm serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Pass more cheese around the table.Adapted from Tyler Florence, serves 4-6 peopleServed with local bread.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

For the Dark Days Dinner #2 we decided to incorporate it into a party we were having with a bunch of friends. Again, we were not able to utilize local ingredients for the oil, vinegar, sugar and salt. One thing that struck me as counterproductive as we were shopping for our dinner is that we needed to go to 3 different stores in order to get all of the ingredients local. At what point is the carbon footprint worse by driving around than allowing a couple of items to be shipped from somewhere else? I mean, until more stores carry local goods isn’t the shipping of other goods somewhat of a sunk cost?By the way…That parsnip was huge.Enjoy the meal!!!

½ cup heavy cream, beaten to soft peaks (Fresh Breeze Organic, Lynden, WA)Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8x8-inch baking dish. Dust the dish with granulated sugar; tapping out any excess.Peel the pears and cut then in half through the stem end. Use a melon baller to scoop out the cores. Put the pear halves in a large bowl, sprinkle with the vanilla, and toss. Then sprinkle over the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg and toss so that the pears are really well coated with the flavorings. Set the pears in a single layer; cored side down, in the prepared baking dish.Now make the topping. In the same bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, flour and salt and mash it all together with your fingers. Toss in the cranberries. Crumble the topping mixture over the pears in the baking dish and bake until the topping is nice and crunchy and browned and the pears are very tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve with whipped cream.Taken from Tyler Florence’s Tyler’s Ultimate: 2006 – Serves 4

Monday, December 6, 2010

As we get into our first Dark Days meal, we find that this is going to be more difficult than first imagined. As we perused the vegetable aisle at our local "local" grocery store, the fall/winter vegetables that we figured would be from around here ended up not...So we had to improvise (have a feeling this is going to be a theme over the next 4 months).

1. Bring the apple cider to a boil in a small saucepan. Cook until cider is reduced to 1/4 cup (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat, and cool to room temperature.2. Heat oil in a large Dutch over over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan; saute 3 minutes. Add curry powder and garlic to pan; saute 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add cauliflower, broth and apple, bringing to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or until cauliflower is very tender.3. Remove pan from heat; cool 5 minutes. Place half of cauliflower mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining cauliflower mixture. Return to pot. Stir in half and half; cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until throughly heated (do not boil). Remove from heat; stir in juice, salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Ladle about 1 cup soup into each of 8 bowls; drizzle each serving with 1-1/2 teaspoons cider reduction. Garnish with coarsely ground pepper, if desired. Yield: 8 servings. (Recipe taken from CookingLight: December 2008).

Sunday, November 21, 2010

From Dec 1st through April 15th, we will be detailing one meal a week that is completely local (*see below for caveats).

Our personal definition of local is one gas tank away, so roughly 400 miles. From Seattle the north boundary is Kamloops, BC, to the east is the Montana border and South all the way down to Roseburg, OR.

Some items that we will be using that are not local are dried herbs and spices that don't come from our garden.

Where appropriate, we will utilize items that we have picked up throughout our travels. Since it came home with us, there really isn't any incremental environmental impact from transport.